Friday, February 18, 2011
Your Turn
When I saw those pictures of Jon Gosselin scaling big roofs, I thought to myself that I probably would not be able to do that job. I am afraid of heights and even though I try and overcome that by going to the tops of buildings and looking over the edge, I just can't do it. I remember one time being in Toronto in the CN Tower and they have some glass in the floor which looks straight down to the ground. All these kids were running back and forth across it and did not have a care in the world. Meanwhile, all the adults would creep really close to the edge and very few ventured out on the glass itself. So, my question to you is do you have a fear of heights and have you done anything to try and overcome it? You can also discuss any other phobias you have.
No problem with heights. But claustrophobia. I didn't realize it until I got a job digging a huge drainage tunnel 60 feet underground. I lasted one day.
ReplyDeleteNot scared of heights, but the CN Tower is pretty disorienting. I do have a phobia about co-joined twins...can't read about them, can't look at pictures or movies about them; don't want to know they exist. This goes for kittens and any animals born co-joined
ReplyDeleteI worked in an administrative job at the Twin Towers for one week in 1999. I quit the job becuase I was too freaked out at being so high.
ReplyDeleteHow glad I am I quit.
I, too, suffer a fear of heights. In NY, there's also a building that has glass in the floor. I can't walk on it, either. My way of overcoming this fear? Avoidance.
ReplyDeleteI am deathly, deathly afraid of needles. I've been known to projectile vomit just if I catch a doctor giving a shot on a tv show. It is a serious phobia that I have seen a therapist for and have even been hypnotized. You couldn't pay me to get a flu shot, and when I've had surgery they have to gas me out before even starting an IV.
ReplyDeleteI hate that people make fun of me for it. I'd rather jump out of a plane than get a shot!
I'm not bothered by heights or depths (or conjoined twins), but the suggestion of a rodent - from field mouse to rat - reduces me to pre-verbal terror. Oh, and car accidents, but I've been in several of those, so I guess there's a rational basis for that one.
ReplyDeleteI'm bothered by heights and a fear of needles -- but not quite as bad as @girltrav describes. I have a hard time letting a doctor take blood and have never donated blood. I have never had to have an IV inserted in my arm so don't know how I will react. @girltrav-- I like the idea of having gas before getting an IV. Thanks for the suggestion if I ever need it!
ReplyDeleteNothing but spiders for me. If I have an encounter I will be physically shaking hours later.
ReplyDeleteMy dad is terrified of everything - heights, water, you name it. He has never stayed in a hotel above the second floor in his life, won't fly in an airplane.
I think if you face death a few times you kind of lose the worry over certain phobias.
And even though I'm not scared of heights, I could do this:
http://www.heavy.com/action/action-videos/action-video/2010/10/worlds-scariest-jobs-antenna-climbing/
Heights, definitely...that's a learned thing with me, my dad used to dangle my brother over our balcony.
ReplyDeleteGood times...
I could *not*...
ReplyDeleteI made myself claustrophobic. When I was 10 or 11, we got a dog. She would sleep with me in my bed. Loved her. She would be under the covers, we would spoon. My arm was her pillow. A doberman who was a cuddler. Truly my best friend.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, when she would get serious about sleep, like a lot of dogs, she would curl up and tuck her nose by her back lets. When she'd do this, she would end up with her head under the covers. And every time she did this, I would pull the covers off her head and tell her she couldn't breathe.
8 years of doing that made ME believe I couldn't breathe if my head is under the covers. To this day, I can't have something right over my face. If I can feel my breathe on my face, I need air!
Funny, the only time that I can be under the covers now is when my son is under there with me.
Not a phobia, but one thing that makes my skin crawl is the sound of papers/wrappers crumpling. Nails on a chalkboard. Worst thing ever.
lets=legs =0)
ReplyDeletePhobias? not really...but I cannot stand sputum. I'm a nurse, and back in the "old days" we had to empty what I call "spit buckets" - the canister that all the suctioned gunk goes into from wherever you are suctioning it from...I would have to look away, flush the toilet, and sing loudly while dumping it in the toilet to avoid tossing my cookies. Blood? bring it on. Grey matter on the pillow? no problem. Gaping,open wounds? Hah! child's play. But do NOT sit there and string mucus in front of my face.
ReplyDeleteAnything that even remotely resembles lugies I hate. My hubby and son know better than to hack one in my presence. Just typing this my stomach is doing a little dance.
Rainbow Trout I assiduously avoid for the same reason...they are slimy and have this sputum like thick gunk that coats them after they are cleaned. oh yuck.
DEATHLY afraid of heights. So bad, that when I flipped out on the 2nd story at a mall once, my mom had me see a psychologist. I haven't done anything to overcome it & it has made things like flying, seeing Niagra Falls, The Empire State Building & the Eiffel Tower a real bitch.
ReplyDeleteWell, where do I start...
ReplyDeleteI'm scared of heights, so my feet have never seen the top of the ladder.
Not too fond of flying. I scared the crap out of my sister-in-law once on take-off. She looked back at me for moral support, and I was chanting my rosary. Her face said it all!
I sleep with the covers over my head because I'm afraid of the dark. They offer some sort of protective force field from monsters in the night? Non?
But the thing that I'm most afraid of, I mean, mind numbingly terrified, pee my pants, complete and total mental breakdown afraid of is BIRDS. I don't know what it is about them, but dead or alive, I want no part of them. And I suppose, I'd have to say that along with birds I'm scared of Chinese New Year, because here where I shop for groceries, they like to cater to the asian population at new years by selling chicken with their little heads and feet still attached. There have been times where I simply gave up shopping for meat, and decided that we were going vegetarian for the week.
Needless to say, I have no idea how to deal/get over these phobias. I've come to embrace them, as they are what makes me oh so special, that and I married a man who is painfully aware of the things that could put me over the deep end and he does his best to shelter me! lol
I don't know if I'd classify this as a phobia, but I have this crazy thing about plane crashes. Every time I fly, I imagine that feeling passengers have when they know a plane is going down, and what it must feel like when the plane hits the ground. I also read about plane crashes on web sites in my spare time. I fly about 10 times a year, and I don't let it stop me. (I love travel too much) But I have this really weird nagging feeling that I'm going to die in a plane crash someday.
ReplyDeleteI get wobbly knees at high levels and can NOT go out on the glass floor in the Calgary Tower...but I FREAKING LOVE ROLLERCOASTERS!!! Weird.
ReplyDeleteI have a phobia of falling into the train tracks. In NYC there is are ADA saftey threads at the edges of the platform. Its about 12 inches wide. Here's a pic
ReplyDeletehttp://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/NYCS_IRT_LexAve_14St.jpg/120px-NYCS_IRT_LexAve_14St.jpg
For some reason if I get close to the yellow bumper, I get disoriented and dizzy and begin to lose balance.
heights don't bother me, I was designated Christmas lights hanger.
ReplyDeleteClosed spaces don't bother me, once when I was spelunking you had to lay on your belly and army crawl about twenty feet.
Wounds, needles, sputum...I would need a new career if that crap fazed me.
The thing that scares me most is watching people get hurt a la Funniest Videos, those most Shocking shows and UFC fighting. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Majik, was your Dad Michael Jackson? Wow, that's scary.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand on a kitchen chair to change a lightbulb without feeling dizzy. I've never rode a ferris wheel, I can't stand "open" heights because I have the urge to swan dive. If I'm enclosed (like the Empire State Building) I'm okay.
I can't stand small spaces or feeling trapped. I force myself to drive through the carwash and my heart is racing the entire time.
I don't really like heights. I don't like standing close to the edge of a steep drop and I can freeze climbing hills where a tumble could be really, really dangerous but I don't think it rises to a level of a phobia.
ReplyDeleteI hate mice, but that's because I always catch them in my house. If they'd stay outside, I wouldn't mind so much. Hate, hate, hate snakes.
I think the thing for me is no phobias, but if something does manage to freak me out - I freeze. Can literally not move. Doesn't happen very often but it's not a very helpful reaction.
@ penelope another great idea if you have to have blood taken-your doctor can prescribe you lidocaine cream. You put it on at the injection spot and wrap your arm in saran wrap about 20 minutes before.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone else is afraid of needles make sure you tell the doctor or nurse before you go in-most health professionals will understand. If they don't, run.
Yep, scared of heights, and I went on the Insanity in Las Vegas to challenge the fear. I was somewhat okay if I looked straight out on the city, but a couple of times I looked down and I almost puked.
ReplyDeleteSpiders. Just spiders.
ReplyDelete*blecch! yeesh*
Wow, I thought at first that I was afraid of heights only, but I do have claustrophobia too and I am really afraid of bees. I once stayed at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta and the walls are glass from floor to ceiling. I had to walk backwards to close the blinds.
ReplyDeleteSmaller spaces aren't so much a problem, but constriction is for me.
I hated my first MRI, I was tired for two days after that. Such a small space. And as for bees, I was stung when I was little when I was little and I did nothing to provoke them, so I can't stand when people say 'leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. I was also chased and stung by a swarm of yellow jackets once after my dog stepped on a nest. Like others, I also cannot watch a scene with needles involved and I look away when I have to get a shot or have blood drawn.
But funny though, when we're outdoors tent-camping, spideys don't bother me barely at all. I guess it's cuz it's their living room, and I'm just visiting!
ReplyDeleteI used to just be afraid of spiders. But now I'm afraid of spiders and I'm terrified of Ashlee Simpson-type women, women who tell me they're not party animals, who tell me they like peace and quiet, then I'm picking them up drunk and wasted off the lawn from afternoon parties and I'm picking them up drunk and wasted off the curb from 3am parties. At least spiders don't pretend to be, you know, butterflies or something.
ReplyDeletePetrified of heights, I can't even look at a movie that shows someone dangling off a roof. Flying doesn't bother me, and I work on the 22nd floor and live on the 5th (with balcony) and those don't bother me, so it's the lack of enclosure, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI am also afraid of birds and fish.
And I must have my feet, hands and arms covered when I go to bed, or the boogeyman will come out of the closet and get me.
Deep water. Don't even like to submerge myself in a swimming pool. The thought of going out into the ocean past waist deep terrifies me. When my husband jumps off our boat to go water skiing (wearing a life preserver) I literally have to count to 10 over and over to calm myself.
ReplyDeleteSecond to that is really tight crowds. When family and I attended the fireworks at Washington, D.C. a few years ago we took the subway back to our hotel (along with 50 million other people lol). Being stuck underground unable to move, packed like sardines, I still have an occasional nightmare about it.
On the other hand, heights, spiders, snakes, needles, etc. don't bother me a bit.
Heights and spiders. I am much better with spiders because I have had to kill them over the years, but if I don't have to kill them I won't. Big shout out to my wonderful husband who kills them for me and knows they must be dead, not just moved outside, or I won't sleep.
ReplyDeleteHeights: I have climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was spectacular, but I was scared. I also walked the Inca Trail in 2009 and something really interesting happened. I was so exhausted, and so desperate to finish, that something in my brain took over and I was able to walk at the edge of the steps with steep drops right next to me and not feel fear. When we had finished the Inca Trail and I went to Macchu Picchu the next day, couldn't go to the edge, my fear had returned. But it made me realise that if I am in survival mode my brain will help me out.
Claustrophobia--and bats.
ReplyDeleteThe bats (animal not the baseball kind) is from when I was a child. My older sis were out walking; with my mom, two other moms and their two kids. We were walking down a wooded path that was lit from above by street lights. I was young; four or five; and had metal barettes in my hair. A bat saw the lights hitting the metal barettes and thought it was bugs. The bat got stuck in my hair. All I remember is screaming and running for home. I have NO idea how the bat got out of my hair. The next thing I remember is sitting on my Dad's lap and him wiping tears from my face. To this day if I see one I hyperventilate
Oh hell yes to heights...I can't even go up in the attic without looking at the trap door with fear.
ReplyDeleteI used to be afraid of spiders. The smaller they were, the louder I screamed. If I touched a spider web I'd about go into cardiac arrest. Then I bought a house with a huge yard and lots of flowers. With hundreds of spiders. I was forced to get over the fear to keep my gardens looking nice. Right now I wouldn't say I'm terrified of anything.
ReplyDelete@ MOmster - IOMG If I cant touch the bottom with my feet, I wont go in. On my 30th birthday, I went with a bunch of diver friends to FLorida Keys to go snorkeling. After everyone jumped off the boat, I jumped to and freakout. I paddled my ass back to the boat and refused to go back in the water. The captain of the boat even offered to go in with me so I wouldnt miss the beautiful underwater sights. On the boat were a set of 6 yr old twins that jumped into the water usign a foam barbell paddle. I said if these lil girls can do it, so can I. So i slowly descended into the water and held onto my barbell paddle and skimmed the surface of the water. What abirthday that was
ReplyDelete@feraltart - I feel for you. I can't imagine being Australian and afraid of spiders!!
ReplyDeleteI am slowly cultivating a fear of heights and have always been deathly afraid of spiders. I start to get the panic attack feeling just thinking about them. Spiders terrify me. I don't know what's up with the heights thing. I always loved roller coasters as a child / teen, never had any issues with flying / heights. Cut to September 2007 and I am in Barcelona about to go on the cable thingee. I just about lost it - my husband had to hold on to me. It came out of nowhere. Since then, I am becoming increasingly afraid of heights. It isn't preventing me from traveling, but I sure am in no rush to look out the window... I haven't done anything about it - not sure what I could even do?!
Balloons. And elevators. But mostly balloons.
ReplyDeleteI'm deathly afraid of Chucky the killer doll...my friends sister actually tried to scare me at Spencers once with the doll and I ended up knocking the crap out of her...busting her braces and busting her jaw. And once I went on a date with a guy to the movies when we walked in there was a huge poster for a new Chucky movie...I ran out hysterically crying the guy couldnt figure out where I went. He still makes fun of me about it.
ReplyDeleteOh and birds...scared to death of them. Their eyes freak me out the most.
I'm pretty much terrified of heights. Wario's Gold Mine, Ghost Valley, and especially Rainbow Road on Mario Kart freak me out. If I have to climb something higher than a step stool, I can't look down. I've been to the glass level at the CN Tower, though. For some bizarre reason I wasn't scared, but I had to look up at the ceiling of the elevator going up and make sure I wasn't near the door. And I like rollercoasters, too (even though I do feel freaked).
ReplyDeleteI highly dislike lugies as well. Even worse when you hear the man (because it's usually a man) sucking back that mucus, then a big gulp. UGH.
My husband is TERRIFIED of needles. He faints at blood tests. Last time he had a student nurse. Took her about 20 minutes (no lie) to find the vein. He was grey.
I'm still afraid of the dark, too. When I was little I believed an army of skeletons were under my bed and as soon as I fell asleep they lifted up the bed and carted me off to God knows where. Before I fell asleep I was convinced an ax murderer was going to come and get me. I'd lie face down and wag my head back and forth because then he'd keep hitting the pillow and not my head (or so I reasoned).
Carolyn, I hate it when my son covers his face. I keep telling him not to, but he ignores me.
Open water and swimming in a lake and/or seeing a boater not look at the water in front of him, but that's because when I was 13 my father was run over by a boat while he was swimming. The propeller tore just beside his spine along the length of his back.
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ReplyDeleteLisa, yes, Chuckie the doll. I forgot about that too. I hate disfigured/morphed faces..they scare me. Kabuki dancers, those cat cards where they have people smiles all scare me. Years ago there was a Timex commercial with a mannequin wearing a Timex and the mannequin started dancing, scared the hell outta me.
ReplyDeleteAfraid of heights. Someday I want to face the fear by skydiving. Of course I have been planning to do that for 20 years and haven't done it yet. Also afraid of bridges over water. I will not own a car with electric windows. I want to be able to escape when the car goes off the bridge into the water.
ReplyDeleteI've grown more afraid of heights as I've gotten older and it pisses me off. The only other phobia I have is sort of embarassing.. I am totally freaked out by giant poodles. Seriously, those giant heads and bodies really freak me out!
ReplyDeletesigh... i cant go to the grocery store unless i am medicated. something about the big cavernous room with no windows and tiny little lines you have to wait in, suffocating with no fresh air, no windows, no way out. AAAAAAA!
ReplyDeletealso- sharks.
ReplyDelete@Tempestuous Grape--don't look at the photos, then! EEE!!
ReplyDeleteSnakes and balloons.
ReplyDeleteI used to be okay with snakes until 3 summers ago when I spotted 5 in my backyard, with 2 being ON MY BACK PORCH! Freaked out about them ever since that summer.
I have always been afraid of balloons, even as a young kid. I think it's the being scared they'll pop thing. I have very senstive ears.
I had a terrible fear of flying. Terrible, and could never fly alone. I think I've overcome it now, and took my son on a 2 hour flight and I know I'm ok now . However, I can't seem to take a flight over the Atlantic or the Pacific. I skeered.
ReplyDeleteI have been afraid of heights and snakes all my life and feel like avoiding either when possible is a good solution for me : )
ReplyDeleteHowever, I used to have a debilitating phobia of dying, since I was about 10 years old. I would go through phases where I would be scared of dying from a specific cause, like being murdered, struck by lightning, drowning, etc. As I got older, I became more scared of dying due to some kind of fast-acting medical problem like a heart attack, stroke or some kind of cancer that I wasn't aware of until death was imminent. This particular fear spiked when I was about 18, and I was diagnosed with anxiety/panic disorder and my psychologist gave me a list of the signs of panic attacks. Ever since I saw that one symptom was "thinking you're going to die," I could talk myself down when I got them, but it took years of steadily working on that. I started having odd but fairly mild medical issues in my 20's (thyroid, heart valve defect) that have me going to doctors more than most people my age (37), but the fear and panic attacks are extremely rare now and have been since I got spinal meningitis when I was 33. I was in the hospital for three days and I was so sick, I guess I didn't have any energy to be scared I was going to die from it. Once I got out of the hospital I spent almost a year recovering and had some permanent (mild) damage to what I'll call my "system," for lack of a better word. That was probably the closest I've ever come to death, and I guess actually being in a situation in which I could really die from something medical and surviving took most of the fear away - that and the anti-anxiety meds I've been on for years : ).
Needles don't bother me, but I can't look while getting my blood taken because of the way the blood flows out through the tubes. Something about that sight makes me feel like I might pass out.
And finally, my embarrassing fears: ice cream truck men and creepy children. I believe these fears are due to watching too many horror movies : ). Creepy children aren't generally a problem in real life, but if I saw one, I would run screaming away and they scare the crap out of me in movies and on TV. Whenever I'm outside and I hear the ice cream truck music, I have to go inside immediately. Actually seeing the ice cream truck when I'm not in a car freaks me out. I guess I'm fine in a car because obviously the car is protecting me ; ). Sometimes I want to run up to any kids I see outside when I hear the music and scream warnings for them to get inside, but I manage to restrain myself (also, have to get inside before the ice cream truck man gets me lol).
@ feraltart, my Grandfather dove off the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Needless to say, he screwed up his back for life.
ReplyDeleteI have aquaphobia. I will never be able to scuba dive.
So Enty, guess you won't be going on the glass platform at the Grand Canyon any time soon?
Deathly afraid of the dark. I had 3 older brothers who used to terrorize me. They would jump out at me in the dark, one time they used a tape recorder and didn't record anything for the first 15 minutes then they screamed at the top of their lungs into it. I don't think my feet hit the ground between my bed and downstairs and finally, just to make sure my fear of the dark was complete, 2 of them snuck in my room after I was in bed, actually waited until I was asleep and then jumped on top of me and bit my neck. We are extremely close now but I still have to have a light on to sleep and the bedroom door MUST be open when I am in the bedroom alone.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Falls in Africa is higher than Niagra Falls and has this natural pool at the very edge that keeps tourists from going over. They lean waaaaaay over the edge, and there are photos of one woman leaning backward over the edge, and I cannot take it. Just looking at the photos I can't take it. Heck, it's making me nervous just THINING about looking at the photos of people doing extreme things at that height.
ReplyDeleteFear of roaches. Not just a simple, they're icky, but full-blown phobia. If I see one near me, or heaven forbid one touches me at all, I start feeling like I'm being covered by them. I start clawing and scratching at myself. Made myself bleed pretty good.
ReplyDeleteCalifblondy--you're not the only one whose fear of heights is all tied up w/fear of jumping. If it's enclosed heights and I can't see directly down, I can manage, but any kind of open heights? I'm always terrified that this'll be the time that I finally lose my shit and jump. (Ever since 9/11 I've had a recurring nightmare involving standing at the top of the WTC, looking down 1/4 mile to the sidewalk and knowing I'd have to jump. *shudder*) I'm also claustrophobic, and need an open MRI w/a mirror attached so I can see out, and even then I tend to keep my eyes closed and grit my teeth to get through it. I've had lots of strange phobias over the years, but those are the 2 big ones that come to mind.
ReplyDeleteGotta go with most of you guys and say heights. A few years ago, God only knows why, I decided to walk across an old elevated train track/trestle that ran across a gorge in Pennsylvania. The tracks were falling apart and missing planks so you could see straight down a hundred feet or so. I ended up getting halfway across only to turn around and CRAWL the rest of the way back with my 9 years old son leading me. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hate, hate, HATE sticky. Any sticky surface on the floor, table or desk needs to be windexed IMMEDIATELY. I can rage over sticky.
I am terribly terribly afraid of heights. Once I went on a kiddy ride at Disneyland (to try to habituate myself to the idea of heights), and when the ride got about ten feet off the ground, I started crying so hard that the guy running the ride had to bring it back down. The 3 and 4 year olds riding the ride with me all stared at me.
ReplyDeleteI climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and rode the London Eye. I really hate centipedes but I don't kill em cos the eat other bugs.
ReplyDeleteSo, they just let people crawl all over the bridge in Sydney?
ReplyDeleteMy true phobias are bridges and claustrophobia, both of which have induced full-blown true panic attacks that have terrified the people I was with when they happened.
ReplyDeleteNext biggest fear is flying. I haven't done it in a couple years and can't see it happening again in the foreseeable future.
I don't love spiders or heights, but so far, they aren't true phobias.
I'm absolutely terrified of heights. So much so that I could never stomach skiing because of the lifts. I almost jumped out of a tram at an amusement park once just to get the agony over with, but my partner talked me out of it. And I'm clausterphobic.
ReplyDeleteI was going to try and overcome my fear by bungee jumping while on a trip down under some months ago, but got into a car accident instead where the car was hanging off a cliff. Oddly enough, I didn't mind flying in an Army helicopter with the doors open.
Spiders, snakes, clowns, the number 13 and everything else I can handle.
I don't like birds. At all. Creepy little bastards.
ReplyDeleteI'm scared of heights, and I hate to fly.
ReplyDeleteI went skydiving and screamed the whole way down.
I have watched every episode of Plane Crash Investigations.
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ReplyDeleteCan't drive on the highway. Fly only with chemical assistance (but I love to travel). Clowns make me nauseous.
ReplyDeleteI'm terrified of childbirth/pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI have Katsaridaphobia and Nyctophobia - roaches and the dark. I grew up in a house that was absolutely infested with roaches, and they would often crawl on me in my sleep. I'm pretty sure that's where both fears come from. I've been to therapy, and "flooding" didn't work. At all.
ReplyDeleteHeights terrify me, even watching them on television or looking at certain photographs can make my knees buckle. Lookout points--while everyone else is ooh'ing and aah'ing at the view, I have to close my eyes.
ReplyDeleteDetermined to get over it, I signed up to go ziplining in Mexico 8 weeks ago. Once you ride the first line, there's no turning back, it's tower-to-tower. It was 90 minutes of either riding or being shoved off of towers. I burst into a tears a few times, and lost feeling in my fingertips for 5 days, from hanging on so tight.
Have taken all of this stupid crap off my bucket list.